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Chapter 24: Whenever the Ego Gains, You Are the Loser

One of the jailers said, “This is the first time that I have tears in my eyes when I am releasing a prisoner; otherwise I am always happy to make somebody free. But if you ask me, I really want you to be here always! You have changed the whole atmosphere. How you have done it, I don’t know; perhaps it was just your presence.”

I was in the hospital section, and the head nurse told me, “This is the first time that the jailers, the assistant jailer and other officers continually come to this department; otherwise nobody comes here. They come here, they sit with you, they talk with you. They are hurt that you have been harassed, and they are ashamed that they are all instrumental in the harassment.”

They made every arrangement for me - they have never done that for anybody else. I call this a miracle, not coming out of the walls or breaking the chains; those are not miracles. But this impact on human consciousness.. All the six nurses and the doctor - who was also a woman - were crying when I left. They said, “We know you have to go.we know that you have been only three days with us, and we have become so attached to you; what must be happening to your people, who have been living for years with you? You have to go, but our personal feelings do not listen to logic - we want you to be here. You have changed the whole atmosphere.”

They were trying in every possible way that the government may think they are harassing me, but I was not harassed. Even the inmates were not smoking so that I was not affected. I was not taking showers - the prisoners’ shower booth was so dirty that it felt cleaner not to have a shower. The nurses found out, and they made their own shower available to me.

They made their own place available to me - the office of the nurses, the office of the doctor - so that wherever I wanted to sit, I could sit; wherever I wanted to lie down, I could lie down; I did not need to go to the cell. Whenever I wanted, I had simply to knock and they would open the cell and bring me out. I said, “You need not be worried - I am perfectly good in my cell.”

They said, “It is not a question of your being perfectly good in your cell; we love you to be in the office. We will remember forever that this is the place you used to sit.”

The same happened in Crete: the chair I was sitting in for almost seven hours.. By and by the chief superintendent relaxed, started talking to me, and finally he said, “I am feeling proud that you are sitting in my office. So many of your people come, and I have seen you only in the picture of their locket. Now I will be able to say to them, ‘This is the chair your master has been sitting in for seven hours with me.’”

He phoned his wife, saying, “I will not come until Osho is safely sent to Athens.” He became so concerned that he allowed Devaraj to drive me to the airport. The police officers were sitting at the back, I was sitting in the front and Devaraj was driving! This would have never happened..